Ba and Tiote - Win/Win

So we're bracing ourselves for bids this summer, coming in particular for Ba and Tiote. Obviously we have to hang onto our best players and they've been great this season, BUT personally I think there's a few upsides to their being sold...

Ba:
Top scorer and a good all round player. He's shown his quality and proved he can change games. Seems really popular with the lads and I know him and Cabaye are becoming really close. ON THE OTHER HAND, the buy out clause is still shady (was it relegation based? Is it only 7m?) If the clause is bigger and we can hold out for a fair bit of money, (£20m-£30m given his record but potential injury threats) we could buy another 2-4 top players for that, with Luuk DeJong looking to be lined up as a potential replacement.

Tiote:
Love him. Hard as nails and works hard in training. Bossed the game against United and really showed this season why we all rate him so highly. ON THE OTHER HAND he's still too rash with his challenges and has a reputation which only aids in his picking up of cards. He's on a huge contract with no clause (that we know of) so could expect decent money for his signature, which again would free up more transfer cash. Blaize Matudui is one name I've seen us linked with?

Africa:
Obviously both players will be out in January (assuming they qualify) and with Cisse joining them, we'll be light up front and through the middle. PLUS WC qualifiers over the summer add risk for potential injury. If they were sold, none of these would matter and we could bring in continental players without the ACoN hanging over them!

I'd love to keep them, more because I'd hate to be playing against them, but IF we sold them, I can see the light at the long Chiek-less tunnel!

 

Ideally you'd keep both and add. But the world is far from ideal! We'll cope regardless.

 

You could argue that selling both could strenghten you in the long run. Selling Ba enables you to buy a winger, to make the 4-3-3 more efficient, selling Tiote would enable you to buy more players, as there is a pretty big price tag associated with him ( i heard as much as 30 million being mentioned). Matuidi is a competent replacement, and would come pretty cheaply. The excess could either be saved, or spent strengthening your depth.

 

I don't know. PSG paid around 8m for him and he'll be on mega money there as they're Qatari backed. PSG would want at least 10m and he'd be surely in or around the 50k-60k mark. We don't pay that really. More likely we'll find the next Matuidi who'll cost 2m-4m and want 20k-30k.

 

If we did need a striker would anyone consider Hooper from Celtic or Rhodes from Huddersfield as possible options?

 

If you get 25-30 million for Tiote, then 10 million isnt that much, and he is a very good player.

 

Rhodes is possibly going to Fulham, and Hooper doesn't excite me much.

 

I rate him highly I just couldn't see Mike looking at it like that! In most peoples eyes that would be good business but I think Ashley would think he can go one better. I suppose its hard to argue with him at present. Or you could just give us Frimpong who looks like a mini Tiote anyway!

 

I know what you mean about Hooper. It is only the SPL but 44 in 63 is good returns for any league. I just think he looks a bit Johnny on the spot. Ideal for bringing on when you need to poach a goal. I didn't know about Rhodes and Fulham. I rate the lad and his U21 teammate Forrest at Celtic. I watched them rip the Dutch U21 side to pieces as they won 2-1 in Holland. The dutch had some big names in the team and were meant to smash them. Narsingh, Leroy Fer (who looked top class to be fair), Ola John were all in the side.

 

I think you might be getting carried away with those figures. If Ba had managed to carry on his rich scoring form throughout the season you'd have every club under the sun whispering in his ear, including Madrid, Bayern, United no doubt about it. But he dried up when he became your number 10. He essentially turned provider for Cisse, and whilst Cisse banged in a ridiculous amount in his first term at Newcastle, Ba contributed with just 1 in that time. This isn't a player who you'd invest £20m+ in unless you have no strikers at all, and from where I'm sat, only Spurs are really in that position and depending on what happens in the CL Final, they could be shopping in Europe for players like Llorente, for starters. There is one place where I think he'd be perfect, Liverpool as a replacement for the racist...Carroll would be a perfect foil for Ba, undoubtedly, but let's face it the morons in charge of that club couldn't make a decent decision if their club depended on it.

As for Tiote, if he plays like he did against United at St James Park this season then he's worth £30m all day long and £30m players don't sit around on £150 a week for long, so I think you might have to prepare for the worst on that one. Can't see the price tag being £30m though, probably £20m which is obviously still very good business.

It does surprise me how much you lot worry though, since you came back to the Premier League nearly all of your transfer business has been very well constructed and planned out. You have acquired some unbelievable players for the money you have paid. If I was a Newcastle fan (even though I appreciate you don't fully trust your owner and you still long for stability) I'd be excited about the transfer windows, imagine what it's like for the Mersey Skiprats who build their hopes up for a marquee signing and Charlie Adam walks through the door!

 

Tiote wouldn't be Tiote if he didn't go in hard like he does, it's why we love him.

If he got all those cards to save us points then fair enough, and that's what he does at times, takes one for the team, but sometimes there isn't that much danger and he decides to clip someones heels or run them over.

He needs to learn when to have a cheeky dig at someone properly. Apart from that he's a brilliant player on form.

 

To be fair it is highly amusing when he runs straight through or over someone. Opposing players are just insignificant to him.

 

Hes like a steam train. How many bookings. Has he missed getting due to players ****ting their pants and jumping out of the way...

 

It does not bear thinking about Albert. You'd be adding a minimum of 5 to the 25 in 50 record he currently has. Hopefully he'll sort himself out. Still love the guy though.

 

Kyle, have a word with Wenger, I really want Frimpong! DENCH!

 

I must admit, I'm a bit worried about the mentality of us toon fans at the moment. There's no doubting that, of recent, Graham Carr has found some gems in the transfer market, but a lot of us forget that it took him at least a few years of scouting to ensure that they were the right players for the club.

I have no doubt that Carr will be able to find replacements, but there's no guaranteeing they'll fit into the squad as well as those we already have and there's no guaranteeing they'll be as good.

Fair enough that we managed to flog Carroll for £35m, that turned out to be a great decision by MA. I'm just worried that, after this great season, he'll be thinking that Carr can replace every player, like for like, and make large profits by doing so.

We finished 5th this season by selling players who were surplus to requirements, not because they were worth a lot of money. For instance, Barton left on a free and Nolan went to West Ham to make way for the better players we already had lined up to replace them (Cabaye etc). Enrique left because he had value, but also because he was being critical of the club and would not sign a new contract.

This summer the picture is a lot different, we have a much better quality squad where the morale is even higher than that of 12 months ago. We should now be looking to hold onto our quality players (e.g. Tiote) unless they have a desire to move on and only then if we can make a lot of money by doing so. We should instead be looking at offloading players like Danny Simpson, players who could be replaced with better quality for their sale value and players who are being awkward when it comes to negotiating a new contract.

Tiote is a prime example of a player we should be holding on to. He's comitted to the squad, he has a long running contract and he's one of our better players! Demba Ba, it seems, has some desire to leave and so it would make sense to sell him and replace him with a player of equal value, of whom can possibly bring something new to our squad.

 

Pretty much agree with all of this, except that we should be prepared to sell anyone if someone is offering silly money (eg. 25m for Tiote), we'd be able to buy two good players for that who wouldn't miss up to 10 matches in January for ACoN.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nebe1zuEtbc

 

Oops, you said Frimpong!

 

20 mill ??? have you not seen the bitch that is fat mike he does not do cheap look at the lanky string of piss carroll lol